After 400 meters swimming, 14 miles biking and 3.1 miles running, the finish line!

This morning, I competed in The Trizou Triathlon in Columbia, Missouri. As a sprint-triathlon event, participants swim 400 meters, bike 14 miles and run five kilometers, or 3.1 miles. My only goal was to finish, and my only strategy was to pace myself!

As it turns out, this was a pretty good approach to take. I felt good the whole time, and had a blast doing it. If you read my healthy living tips a while back, you know that I’ve been in the process of getting back in shape over the last several months. Today’s test of physical fitness may have marked the end of the beginning of my venture into a new and better lifestyle, and the beginning of a new normal in terms of competitive activity level and overall health and wellness.

The picture above is as I’m approaching the finish line. My total time was 1 hour, 44 minutes, 1 second – good enough for 543rd place out of a mere 666 participants! (The winner competed the course in a smoking 58 minutes, 2 seconds.) I definitely could have shaved some time off that but as my first event, I didn’t worry about trying to make my best time, just stay strong and steady.

I’ve got a few more pics to post soon. For the moment I just wanted to get this up here and say I’ll definitely be doing more events like this in the future! The competitive atmosphere was a thrill today, and it was inspiring and motivating not only to compete and complete, but to watch others do the same.